Welcome to Episode 69 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans. With this episode we begin a new triptych of shows on the work of Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, looking at the 2011 short story collection The Inheritance and Other Stories–the first time both pseudonyms have been brought together in one volume. In particular we talk about Lindholm’s stories “A Touch of Lavender” and “The Fifth Squashed Cat,” along with Hobb’s stories “The Inheritance” and “Cat’s Meat”; although both names belong to one author, the voices and emphases are quite different, and we look at both those differences and the assured touch of a speculative fiction master evident throughout all of the book. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week when we’ll continue the triptych with our interview of Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm herself. Until then, thanks as always for listening to the show, and please continue to spread the word!

P.S. Time is running out to nominate Speculate! in the Hugo Awards Best Fancast category–the deadline is only a week away, on Sunday, March 10th, so if you haven’t already done so, please head here for all the details…and thanks!

Welcome back for Episode 68 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans. In this episode we focus for the third time on the state of the speculative fiction field with special guests Matt Forbeck and Lee Moyer, concentrating this time around on the impact of Kickstarter and other crowdsourcing systems on the world of fantasy and science fiction. Both Matt and Lee have run highly successful Kickstarters in the past year, and over the course of our discussion we look at the implications of Kickstarter for all of us: is this system going to replace the traditional methods of getting a book or game to market, or can it work side by side with those methods? What are its potential pitfalls (and how can you avoid them)? And if you succeed, what comes next? We cover all these bases and a few more during the course of our discussion, and we hope you’ll find it as enlightening as we did. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back for our next episode, the first in a triptych on the work of Robin Hobb. Until then, thanks as always for listening, and please continue to spread the word!

Update: here are links to Lee’s whitepaper on Kickstarters, including the introduction:

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